This guest blog comes from Mason Cole, MA Politics and Contemporary History student and Sustainability Champion Assistant (SCA), supporting the King’s Energy Team.
As our eagle-eyed followers may recall, we provided some DIY energy-saving tips in the winter months ranging from the use of tin foil behind your radiators to clingfilm around your windows! Given that we’ve now had the hottest day of the year, it is definitely time for the summer edition, and this time there will be no tin foil or clingfilm, we promise. Read on for our 5 energy-saving ideas for the summer.
Don’t use the tumble-dryer
Let’s start off with a nice easy one. Those of you with a tumble-dryer and who pay energy bills will be aware of just how much energy they use and how expensive this can be for you. So why not give your clothes and your wallet some time off by letting them dry naturally? Invest in a washing line and let nature do its work!
Switch to LEDs
Yes, yes, we know – we are always plugging LEDs, but here it’s not only about how much energy they could save you, it’s also about heat. Traditional lighting produces large amounts of radiated heat as well as light. While LEDs do still produce heat, this is far less than regular halogen or incandescent bulbs. In short, with less heat in your house thanks to more energy-efficient bulbs, there will be less cooling (and therefore energy) required – no brainer!
Air conditioning setting
Summer days can be unbearably hot, so we fully understand using air conditioning units. However, the minimum you are recommended to set these to is 5oC lower than the outside temperature, so that is probably no more than 24oC. If you choose the lowest setting, the unit will use more energy to produce it and the difference in temperature will be very minimal.
Turn down the water heater
By no means are we advocating cold showers during these glorious few months of sunshine, but we don’t need those steaming winter showers to wake us up in the morning anymore. Therefore, if you have a manual water heater you can turn the temperature down slightly to reflect this and save both energy and money in the process.
Don’t open your windows
We’ve all been there; sweating in the sweltering heat, throwing the windows open in the desperate hope of tempting a non-existent breeze. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work. When you open your curtains (or any form of window covering) and your windows, the sunlight enters your house and heats it up. In adding a few more degrees for you to wage war on, you will likely use more unnecessary energy trying to remove it through using fans or air conditioning units. It may seem depressing to keep the windows and curtains closed throughout the summer, but you only need to do it when the full sun is out. That means you can throw them open once it passes…but beware of the mosquitos.
So there you have it – our 5 DIY tips on how to save energy at home during the summer months. Thanks to these tips, you will save money and energy (and you also won’t need to awkwardly explain why you have tin foil sticking out the back of your radiator…). Tune in to this week’s #TakeoverTuesday to put what you’ve learned to the test!
As always, if you have any further questions or want to get involved with King’s Energy, get in touch!
